Jayapataka Swami: You see, Lord Caitanya, He was always very eloquent, very careful when He spoke. So He would speak very respectfully, even Keshava Kashmiri, the Digvijay, the great pandit, he was speaking to Lord Caitanya in a negative way. He said I heard about You, Nimai Pandit, You are a teacher of grammar to the kids. He was portraying Lord Caitanya very small. But Lord Caitanya He kept talking, that I heard you are a great pandit. Could you please compose verses on the Ganga? Keshava Kashmiri he began to compose Sanskrit verses on the Ganges. One after another, after another, after another, a hundred verses. Two hours he went on, bom bom bom! Lord Caitanya praised him, and said you are the greatest pandit. Who has such ability like you! Could you tell me what are the good aspects and defects in your poetry? Me, defects! MY POETRY HAS NO DEFECTS! Lord Caitanya, He said, please tell me the good and the bad in your poetry. Can you give me an example, Keshava Kashmiri said. Lord Caitanya said, in your verse 57, you said the following and He quoted the verse word by word as it was. He was surprised, how do you know? I quoted all the verses so quickly, how did You memorize? Lord Caitanya said, just as God has blessed you with a great ability to compile poetry, He has blessed Me with a memory. Any way, the pastime was on. You see, although Keshava Kashmiri was speaking very roughly to Lord Caitanya, Lord Caitanya was talking to him very respectfully and defeating him, HA! HA! But with great respect! Ha! Ha! Anyway, when you preach, you want to speak nicely to people. Even if they speak in a rough way. I met one person and he started yelling at me. He said, I don’t believe in any of this, you people are cheaters. And he went on and on and on, saying negative things. I said no sir, we are actually doing good work. I showed him pictures, we feed the poor, we are doing this and that service. Then that man said, I was just testing you. I thought I would bully you out and you would leave. But you are still here! Tell me how much donation should I give you! Ha! So, when you preach, you have to keep your intelligence and always be very respectful. Lord Caitanya said offer respect to others, but don’t expect any respect for yourself.
28-June-2020 SRI DHAM MAYAPUR, INDIA
